Brentford 1-1 Leeds: Dean Smith and Steve Evans reaction

Leeds boss Steve Evans was left disappointed after his side's fightback came too late to earn the Whites maximum points in a gritty 1-1 draw at Brentford in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday evening.

The Bees dominated the first half without creating too many clear-cut chances, but did enough to take the lead through Sam Saunders, who raced from halfway as the Leeds defence backed off and invited him to smash a low drive into the net.

But the Londoners failed to put Leeds to the sword and were made to pay with seven minutes remaining, when substitute Mustapha Carayol rescued a point for his side with a neat turn and shot which curled inside the far post.

Evans was delighted with the way his side hung in during a first half in which he admitted they were second best to Brentford's slick passing.

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But he said: "At half-time I was confident we'd get something and we go away disappointed that we haven't taken all three points, especially since we feel we have a good shout for a penalty."

That came when the lively Mirco Antenucci dropped to the floor in a duel with Bees centre-back Harlee Dean, the referee decisive in waving away Leeds protests.

Evans added: "Regardless of that it was very much a game of two halves. The conditions were tough with a swirling wind and we also lost Chris Wood with a tight hamstring.

"We didn't perform to the level we can and gave the ball away too sloppily with misplaced passes."

But Leeds looked far brighter after the break and despite the hosts' fluent football, actually carved out the better chances.

Souleymane Doukara stung David Button's fingertips late on with a sizzling drive while Alan Judge also forced a superb free-kick stop from Marco Silvestri at the other end.

Evans admitted: "Brentford have good technical players and were passing it round us a bit in the first half but we changed the system at half-time and after the break our keeper Marco Silvestri had very little to do.

"The Brentford fans are fantastic and as a head coach that's why I hate coming here because you know the fans will be right behind them, but we actually got them to go quiet."

Brentford head coach Dean Smith bemoaned his side's lack of quality in the final third for failing to put the game beyond Leeds by half-time.

"In the first half we played some very good football and probably could have gone in more goals up, but the final pass or final touch wasn't as good as it should have been," he said.

"We've taken four points from two games and we feel disappointed because it could have been better."

But Smith insisted he was happy with his striking options at the club, despite Lasse Vibe and Marco Djuricin both looking slightly off the pace.

He said: "We have goals coming from all over the team and we have Lasse, Marco and Philipp Hofmann who will all get opportunities to show what they can do."

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